Apprenticeship with Jesus: Learning to Live Like the Master

"Apprenticeship with Jesus is a joy-filled resource for fleshing out the details of ongoing companionship with the Author of our salvation. Putting this book into practice day by day will substantially re-form the inner core of your life."

Richard J. Foster, author, Celebration of Discipline

Gary Moon is a friend, a guide, and fellow apprentice. I know of few people with his passion or his clarity for the subject about which he speaks. I wish every follower of Jesus could have Gary’s wisdom on the most important subject in the world—where do we find life?

John Ortberg, bestselling author; pastor,

Menlo Park Presbyterian Church

Gary provides wise guidance for our journey toward Christ-likeness that is full of spiritual depth and good humor. What a delightful combination!

Ruth Haley Barton, president, Transforming Center;

author, Sacred Rhythms

"Gary Moon’s Apprenticeship with Jesus is a well-written book with great stories, practical exercises, and special humor only Gary is capable of, plus deep biblical wisdom on learning to live like Jesus. I highly recommend it for everyone who wants to live as a true disciple of Christ."

Siang-Yang Tan, Fuller Theological Seminary

Gary Moon’s book is perfect for people striving to live and love like our Savior. With grace and beauty, Gary captures the wonder of our salvation, the challenge of our discipleship, and the thrill of transformation, and then follows with a practical guide for navigating this lifelong process. This book is a wonderfully practical tool for transformation.

Eric Parks, Monvee co-creator

Apprenticeship

with

Jesus

Learning to Live

Like the Master

GARY W. MOON

© 2009 by Gary W. Moon

Published by Baker Books

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Printed in the United States of America

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Moon, Gary W., 1956–

   Apprenticeship with Jesus : learning to live like the Master / Gary W. Moon ; foreword by Dallas Willard.

      p. cm.

   Includes bibliographical references.

   ISBN 978-0-8010-6841-6 (pbk.)

   1. Spirituality. 2. Spiritual life—Christianity. 3. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4501.3.M649 2009

248.4—dc22

2009018401

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture marked NRSV is taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scriptures from Colossians in the Apprentice Activities are from the NRSV.

Published in association with Eames Literary Services, LLC, Nashville, TN.

Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2007 screenshots reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.

This book is dedicated to my father,

Rev. W. D. Moon,

a true apprentice to Jesus.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword by Dallas Willard

Introduction: Who Would I Be If Jesus Were Living His Life through Me?

Getting Started A New Vision for Salvation

Day 1: A Case of Theological Malpractice: Salvation Is Also a Life

Day 2: Getting Beyond Vampire Christianity: Transformation as Transfusion

Day 3: Why Paul Rarely Quoted Jesus: The Great Mystery Revealed

Day 4: Becoming Odd for God: The Divine Cultural Exchange Program

Meet the Master Reflections on the Keeper of the Mysteries of a New Life

Day 5: Desiring to Dance with the Trinity: God as Joy in Motion

Day 6: Love Is God’s Money: Compassion as the Economy of the Trinity

Day 7: Emulating the Master’s Creativity: The Joy of Originality

Day 8: Tapping into the Force: Christ Incarnate in Me

Know Yourself Reflections on Me—Apprentice and Student of the Mysteries

Day 9: The Good: I Am Better Than I Think

Day 10: The Bad: I Am Worse Than I Can Imagine

Day 11: The Ugly: Accepting My Personal Altar

Day 12: The Beautiful: A New Vision of Me

Ways of Being with the Master Living Life with Jesus

Day 13: Life Is Too Long: When the Journey of Salvation Becomes Mechanical

Day 14: Yada, Yada, Yada: Putting Talk about Salvation Back in the Bedroom

Day 15: Communion Ain’t Supposed to Be Convenient: Being with Jesus in the Eucharist

Day 16: Baptized into a Whole New Way to Live

Day 17: Getting Scripture All the Way through Me

Day 18: A With-God Approach to Scripture

Day 19: Celebration at Fat Matt’s: Becoming Lost in Union

Day 20: Meditation and Monk Fights: Learning to Celebrate Our Differences

Day 21: The Solace of Solitude

Day 22: If God Is So Smart, Why Am I Doing All the Talking?

Carrying On the Master’s Legacy Jesus Living through Me

Day 23: Invitation to Join the Guild: Letting Go of Self-Sufficiency

Day 24: Trust and Companionship: Another Lesson in Surrender

Day 25: Getting through the Rough Spots: The Importance of Dark Nights of the Soul

Day 26: Working with the Proper Light: And Letting It Pour In through the Cracks in My Façade

Day 27: The Need to Slow Down: Hurry Is the Devil

Day 28: Eating a Balanced Diet: The Six Streams of Christian Spirituality

Day 29: Becoming a Master Craftsman: It’s All About the VIM and Vigor

Day 30: The Best Way to Apprentice Others: Live the Transformation You Want to See in Them

Now What? The Ongoing Mystical Experience of Theology

Appendix

MS Outlook Screenshots

Colossians 3:1–17 NRSV

Notes

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been written without the presence of several people on the planet. First and foremost, there is Dallas Willard. I often refer to Dallas as America’s answer to C. S. Lewis; and I rarely speak to a class for more than ten minutes without quoting him. Occasionally I’ll even confess that I’ve never had an original thought; I’m content to rearrange and simplify those of Dallas Willard. But it’s not Dallas’s mind that has had the biggest impact on me or this book. In an age where it seems that nontransformation has become the accepted Christian norm, Dallas’s simple, loving, non-hurried life shines like a beacon of hope. Reading his life has caused me to believe that it is possible to actually become like Jesus.

It would be difficult to overestimate the impact Dallas Willard has had and will have on the Christian church. It would not surprise me if historians of the late twenty-first century and beyond look back over this period of church history and conclude that the reforming contributions of Dallas Willard should be considered as important as those of Martin Luther and Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Clearly, he has ignited a reformation in thinking that it is possible to actually become like Jesus.

It would also be difficult to overestimate the breadth of Dallas Willard’s present influence on young and not-so-young ministers, academics, and lay pilgrims. Two years ago I was attending my first Renovaré board meeting in Colorado as an invited guest. Within five minutes of arriving I met James Bryan Smith for the first time. Within ten minutes we discovered that we both had the same Myers-Briggs profile (I’ll spare you the letters). Within fifteen minutes we were shocked to learn that we had both been inspired by Dallas Willard to develop a Curriculum of Christlikeness and were working on a book based on the idea of living out an apprenticeship with Jesus. At that point we quickly stopped talking and bolted back to our rooms to see who could get this book finished first. No, that’s not true, but we did realize a little more about just how far-reaching and inspirational Dallas’s words are to so many.

There are several other people I would like to acknowledge. Charlie Shedd. You are in heaven now, so I’m not sure if you’ll see this, but thanks for taking the time to let me be your writing apprentice for a couple of years. John Eames. Thanks for being a wonderful agent and friend and for tricking the folks at Baker into publishing this book. And speaking of Baker, thank you, Chad Allen, for accepting this manuscript and for making it much better; and Barb Barnes, thank you for all the catches and fixes that make it seem like I passed my English classes.

I also want to thank Rich Cannon for investing his extremely valuable time to add a few additions to this book for those who may want to experiment with turning the exercises into something of an E-Rule of life. If this last sentence about E-something doesn’t make any sense to you, I’d suggest you skip the E-Rule boxes in the book.

Finally, I want to acknowledge some very special people who made it possible for me to find the time to write this book. Jeff Terrell and Greg Hearn, you are very understanding and supportive bosses. Regina, Jesse, and Jenna Moon, thank you each for your understanding, your support, and your love.

Foreword

This book makes accessible a new vision of life redeemed—bought back—from the pawn shop run by the world, the flesh, and the devil: redeemed through a living, interactive relationship with Jesus Christ. As Gary acknowledges, it is new only in relationship to recent practice, and as old as the people of Christ.

The action takes place where redemption must take place, in the ordinary life that everyone must live, no matter what kind of shows may be running. The author makes clear how anyone and everyone can take hold of that life which is life indeed (2 Tim. 6:19). Starting right where they are, they can begin to do simple things that allow the water of spiritual life in Christ to surge through inner and outer channels parched from living with no hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12).

Discipleship (Apprenticeship) to Christ is the status within which the process of spiritual formation in Christ-likeness runs its course. The result is growth in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). That is the normal Christian life. As his apprentices in Kingdom living and acting, we are with him learning to be like him. That is the general idea. It is what trusting Christ means. You cannot actually trust him and fail to be his disciple—no doubt, for a while, a green and bumbling disciple—though currently there is a great deal of deadly misinformation on this point. Trusting Jesus Christ means you want to be with him as much as possible.

A part of our lessons as his students will deal with how we can effectively be together with our Dear Maestro. Gary Moon here makes available an incredible amount of wisdom on that point. He eliminates a lot of holy nonsense that tends to accumulate around spiritual formation. His down-to-earth stories and impish humor help us stay honest with who and what we are, right in the midst of the supernal drama of redemption in which we share. He does not create a new cloud of words and rituals within which we remain basically unchanged. He does not mistake profession of belief for belief itself.

Belief puts us into action and makes contact with reality. There is much talk today about the failure of belief to govern life. The obvious failures of Christian living are attributed to the weakness of belief. But this has come about because of a growing misunderstanding of belief, adapted to the prevailing forms of Christianity. We have to adjust belief so that nominal Christians can still have faith. Those forms of Christianity run on profession of belief, and profession of belief is not belief. People continue to act in terms of what they really do believe, not in terms of what they profess to believe. They have no other choice. With only minor adjustments here and there, we always live up to our beliefs, though rarely up to what we profess.

We grow in genuine faith in Christ as we put into practice what little faith we have—from faith to faith, as we are told (Rom. 1:17). Mustard seed faith (Luke 17:6) is so powerful because it grows, not because it acts like a magic potion. The passage here in Luke is about the increase of faith (see v. 5). The kingdom of the heavens is like the mustard seed because it grows in us and around us (Matt. 13:32; Mark 4:30–32). Effectual instruction in the spiritual life in Christ gives guidelines for putting into practice, right where we are, what little faith we have. For example, we may have a little faith—interwoven with a lot of profession, perhaps—in the Bible. This is commonly the case. We could put that faith into practice by memorizing select portions of the Scripture, in the manner this book describes. Then we will certainly experience the reality of the written Word of God, and of the Kingdom in which it dwells. Our beliefs will grow accordingly and our actions will follow.

The book is laid out as a thirty-day journey. That is a good plan. But to enter on the journey, you need to give the book at least one continuous reading. Pick an afternoon and evening when you can concentrate, and read it from beginning to end. You need the total impact, which cannot be gained otherwise. And then arrange your affairs where you can seriously do the day-by-day. You will need appropriate times, for you have to actually do the exercises set for you. Apprenticeship is not a spectator sport. The exercises are not things you can do and then get on with your real business—like quiet time as often practiced. They are an indispensable part of your real business, and they help you to know and to engage with what your real business is. It is life with Jesus in the Kingdom of the Heavens.

Dallas Willard

Introduction

Who Would I Be If Jesus

Were Living His Life through Me?

[God] offers life, but we must choose to live. This is a far different thing than choosing to be saved or accepting salvation. This is no matter of mere belief but a description of how one lives.

—George MacDonald

Do you ever wonder why it’s so difficult to actually do what Jesus would do? Do you ever question if transformation is possible, or if all the Christian talk about abundant life is just gas? I sure have.

As Christians we are supposed to represent Christ to the world, but according to the comprehensive research presented by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons in unChristian, something is terribly wrong.1 Christianity has a major image problem—especially among those in the 16 to 29 age bracket—in large part because of the lack of authentic transformation in the lives of people wearing the label Christian.

Dallas Willard has taken a close look at this elephant of nontransformation in the sanctuary. According to him, Christianity can only succeed as a guide for current humanity if it does two things: 1) take the need for human transformation as seriously as do modern revolutionary movements, and 2) clarify and exemplify realistic methods of human transformation. He adds, "My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing—following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself."2 We become like Jesus by learning to live as his apprentices, learning how to live in light of the fact that we will never stop living.3

But we have a major problem. There are two very different stories about our relationship to God that have been told across the centuries—one that attracts apprentices and one that repels them.

The Importance of Story

Story is the most powerful invention in the world—and the best way to provide a new vision. With three chords and fifty words a singer can change the way people see a war. With a few indelible parables Jesus illuminated his kingdom and set off a revolution. Story is invasive, relentless like cactus and kudzu; it can root itself in a human heart and push upward, dislodging hard places like broken asphalt.

I learned about stories from my nanny. I called my nanny Auntie because Pentecostal preachers’ families didn’t know about words like nanny. She was a retired missionary who had spent a lot of time working with thrown-away children in orphanages. Auntie had an oval face, white hair that once was blond, and light blue eyes that were very kind. She loved to tell stories.

I remember that the four years she kept me were before the time poor families could afford television sets. And I remember that it didn’t matter so much, because she loved to fill the airwaves with her own images. My first four years of life were lit by her yarns, legends, and fairy tales. I spent my preschool days with stories dancing in my head as Auntie snuggled me in her lap while we rocked together in a creaking chair or swung on the front porch.

During its time as soft clay, my mind was molded by stories. Through no merit of my own, I’ve become an accidental connoisseur of characters and plots, conflicts and resolution, everything from opening lines to denouement. I know when I hear a bad story as instinctively, I think, as a person whose baby brain was soaked in years of music recognizes a sour note or appreciates one that soars. I know when a story seems well aligned, and I recognize when it wobbles out of balance.

Let me tell you the two stories that have had the biggest impact on my life—and, perhaps, on the entire Christian church. Each presents a very different vision of what is, from the human perspective, the most important concept in Christianity.

Two Visions of Salvation

The First Story

In the first story God creates two naked people without belly buttons and places them in a garden. It’s not real clear why he does this, but there is good news—they are naked (I may have already mentioned that) and their primary job is to be fruitful and multiply.

One day while taking a break from multiplying and naming the animals, the woman, influenced by a talking snake, tricks the man into taking a bite from an apple, and all hell breaks loose. God is surprised and then becomes extremely angry. He curses them, every dog, cat, rock, leaf, and Chicago Cubs fan—the entire universe and each of the seven billion-plus and counting descendants who will follow.

Through many millennia God stews in his wrath. He does write down a few instructions and occasionally sends a plague, prophet, or flood to keep folks in line. But mostly he just sits around on a throne, looking a lot like Charlton Heston, and scowls down through the glass-bottom floor of heaven as he thinks up new ways to make humans behave. Then finally, when he can take it no more, he sends his own Son to be tortured and then brutally murdered.

While there are a lot of theories about why God’s Son had to die,